The simple packaging for sale of standard size batteries to be used in consumer goods is a well-known art. Recent efforts in the art have been aimed at including expiration dates on the packages, incorporating battery testers within the packages and novel shapes for packaging.
Packaging and dispensing techniques for small non-standard size batteries are still developing and are undergoing changes. As batteries become smaller and more customized to their host products, suitable packaging and dispensing of the batteries has become increasingly more difficult. Battery technology has allowed batteries to become progressively smaller. This development along with the simultaneous development of smaller more densely packed and lower power electronic chips has allowed host devices for these batteries to decrease in size.
Unfortunately, an outgrowth of these developments is that batteries have decreased in size to the point were they can no longer be physically handled by many people. These batteries are smaller than human fingers can reasonably manipulate. In fact, many batteries are smaller than the size for a human finger tip. These tiny batteries are being incorporated in many devices that are used by the consuming public on a daily basis. The most prevalent use for small batteries are for electronic watches, cameras and hearing aids. These small batteries are packaged in a variety of multipack containers which allow individual dispensing of the batteries.
Hearing aid technology has been affected by these advances in battery and electronic technologies and has undergone advances in size and shape. As hearing aid technology progresses, hearing aid devices are becoming smaller and more specially shaped. Obviously, these smaller and specially shaped hearing aids require even smaller batteries to operate. Human hearing generally deteriorates with age. Therefore, hearing aids are more common with older generations. Many individuals within these older generations have lost their manual dexterity with age, their hands begin to shake and joints are not as flexible as they used to be. Also, individuals in this age group prefer simple things that are easy to use.
Hearing impaired individuals with dexterity and/or vision problems typically have great difficulty inserting and removing tiny hearing aid batteries. There are frequently adhesive tabs, even smaller than the batteries, that must be removed to activate the batteries. The polarity of the battery may have to be determined prior to loading. Presently, many of these impaired consumers must seek the aid of a professional or a younger person to simply install batteries in their medical devices. As the life expectancy and average age in our society continues to increase, the population grows older and there is a greater need for hearing aids. This means that a larger number of hearing impaired individuals will require assistance with hearing aid batteries. Many of these individuals desire their hearing aids to be simple and easy to use.
Our society also continues to become more environmentally aware and is stressing conservation and recycling to help keep the environment clean. Present battery technology does not make it economically feasible to recharge smaller batteries. Due to the process used in these batteries and their contents, over time they may pose threats to our environment. The discarding of packaging for consumer goods, paper, cardboard, plastics and styrofoam, has become a major contributor to our environmetal problems. Proper disposal of these small batteries and their packaging is only possible if they are easily collected after use. However, in the future it will become economically feasible and perhaps necessary under law to recycle batteries and their packaging.
It is known in the packaging art that convenience and ease of use increases the repeat of sales to the same consumer. It is also known in the art that consumer appeal for a product can be amplified by novel dispensing ideas such as see-through packaging, rotating parts, special apertures, enticing shapes and multi-packs. Also, a recent phenomena in the field has been packaging or dispensing ideas that are presented to the consumers as environmentally safe.
What is needed are devices which allow small batteries to be simply removed from devices and easily disposed.
What is needed are devices which allow for simple insertion of batteries in small devices.
What is needed are single motion insertion and single motion ejection procedures for these small batteries.
What is needed is a single device which removes spent batteries and dispenses new batteries by inserting them in their host device.
What is needed is a long lasting device which dispenses, inserts and removes hearing aid batteries.
What is needed is recyclable packaging for small batteries.
What is needed is easy storage of spent batteries for proper disposal or recycling.
Accordingly, there is an unanswered need for packaging of small batteries in dispensers which eliminate the need for manual intervention by the consumer to physically install and deinstall batteries into consumer goods. There is a need for technology that allows for advances in the size and recycling of batteries and their packaging. In addition, there is a need in the market place for novel and environmentally safe packaging and dispensing of small batteries.
The present invention is designed to address these needs.